“Imagine you are living in a place with no water and power. Disease start spreading and every day more people are getting sick. And all of this is happening by the orders of ABF and DIBP from Canberra.”

Martin McKenzie-Murray
As the eighth asylum seeker dies in offshore processing, conditions decline further and the situation worsens for refugees.

“The bank claims its failure to report suspicious transactions stems from a ‘coding error’ in smart ATMs dating back to 2012 … Machines make mistakes, but it takes systemic human failings to compound them into something as serious as this.”

Alex McKinnon
While profits continue to soar for Commonwealth Bank, a laundering scandal makes the case for a banking royal commission grow stronger.

Karen Middleton
The methodology being used to test the public mood on same-sex marriage is dividing both the Liberal Party and constitutional experts – and further diminishing the prime minister’s standing among his own.

Mike Seccombe
After leaving her post as president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Gillian Triggs is as forthright as ever in describing the country’s slide backwards in its social policies and treatment of the vulnerable.

“The PaTH program has now been implemented and young jobseekers are being encouraged to work in retail and hospitality roles for free.”

Catherine Bouris
With young jobseekers being encouraged to sign up to the PaTH internship program, companies are benefiting from free labour and a government subsidy. The question is, what are the interns gaining?

“Earlier this year, the city’s biannual street count identified 433 people sleeping rough in the City of Sydney and 489 people in crisis or temporary accommodation centres that are operating at 91 per cent capacity.”

“The Abbott grab bag of alt-right grievances amply demonstrates his crusade against same-sex marriage is merely a proxy against the sort of modernity he identifies with Malcolm Turnbull and contemporary Australia.”

Richard Ackland
In the latest instalment of his blog, Freedom Boy Wilson, MP, has posted an article called “My Bookshelf”. It turns out not to be a paean to his philosopher-mentor Bookshelves Brandis, but an encounter with the books that have put his thoughts “onto clear tracks”.

The very last picture to be taken of Hamed Shamshiripour is too distressing to publish. It looks like the scene of a lynching. In many respects, it is. Hamed’s face is held in great anguish. Blackness fills the sockets of his eyes. His shoulders hang as if responding to a question for which there is no answer. In death there is the silence that follows great trauma. This last image, this tableau of jungle and resignation, is frozen in violent stillness.

Donna Walker-Mitchell
Long before Australian actors were celebrated in the US, Anthony LaPaglia was forging a solid career in theatre and movies. But, he says, his rise to stardom could not have been more unexpected.

“Blood orange season encourages me to make a fool. Fools are synonymous with the English summer, but the lush creamy texture has a comfort factor that is right at home in any season. Here, I have paired it with a Madeira cake, another plain English classic.”

1. A painting of which TV celebrity won this year’s Archibald Packing Room Prize?

Lisa Wilkinson.

2. O3 is the chemical formula for what?

Ozone.

3. Where was Britain’s first escalator installed?

Harrods.

4. The poet Robert Service is associated with which country?

Canada.

5. What does the acronym SCUBA stand for?

Self-contained underwater breathing apparatus.

6. Australian Rhiannan Iffland is a world champion in which sport?

High diving.

7. Michael Cunningham wrote which novel that was turned into a film starring Meryl Streep?

The Hours.

8. Anthony Scaramucci was removed from which White House position after holding it for just a matter of days?

Communications director.

9. Which contagious disease was also known as “the red plague”?

Smallpox.

10. What is the first name of Sherlock Holmes’ friend Dr Watson? (Bonus point for naming the London street on which the fictional pair lived.)

John. (Bonus point: Baker Street.)

Quotes

DINNER

“If I was supposedly out there to conduct a meeting with Melbourne’s underworld would I have done it in public in the middle of the Lobster Cave?”

Matthew GuyThe Victorian opposition leader explains he didn’t expect an alleged mafia boss to be at a dinner he attended with donors. He remains tough on crime and even refuses to split the bill sometimes.

ANIMALS

“No one had seen anything like this before and they’re all pretty fascinated by it.”

Jarrod KanizayThe father of a boy mauled by sea lice at Brighton Beach in Melbourne explains the response of hospital staff to his son’s bloody legs. In the medical profession, “fascinated” and “disgusted” are more or less the same thing.

TAX

“Personally, I’m not very good at tax avoidance. I’ve paid a lot of tax.”

Malcolm TurnbullThe prime minister offers his view on discretionary trusts. Presumably he only sends his money to the Cayman Islands when it needs a holiday.

MARRIAGE

“I am confident that the campaign will be respectful of all Australians.”

Eric AbetzThe Tasmanian senator voices his support for a postal vote on same-sex marriage. Respectfully, his own colleagues liken gays to paedophiles and link their unions to bestiality, and the thought that this campaign might be anything other than a licence for the most vile bigotry is complete bullshit.

MISSILES

“Sound dialogue is not possible with such a guy bereft of reason and only absolute force can work on him.”

Kim Rak-gyomThe North Korean general explains that United States President Donald Trump is “extremely getting on the nerves” of the rogue state. War is a short finger away.

COURTS

“I know this trial has been very difficult, not only for me, but also for others, and for family and friends.”

Jean Claude PerrottetThe brother of the NSW treasurer responds to a verdict of not guilty in his trial for rape.